Members of The Western Front Association will be aware that - in order to beat 'lockdown blues' we have invested in a series of 'Virtual Tours' of First World War battlefields. These tours are being provided through a partnership with our friends at Battle Guide Virtual Tours. Whilst all of the 'live events' are fully subscribed, these tours are being made available to members for free to watch after the 'live' event - but with a slight 'time lag' after each tour.

As mentioned above, all of these tours 'sold out' very rapidly and approximately sixty members are enjoying these 'live' experiences on a fortnightly basis. These tours are being staged in a chronological sequence, with the second in the series being a tour focusing on a non-western front battlefield - looking at the action at Scimitar Hill which was part of the 'Suvla' campaign at Gallipoli.  

The Scimitar Hill tour is now available for members to view in full (this is about an hour in length) but a two minute 'clip' of this is available below. (Click the right pointing arrow in the bottom left corner of the image).

As the Gallipoli campaign reached its crescendo in August, the key ground that linked the Anzac and Suvla sectors were a series of low lying hills that overlooked the Salt Lake, dominated North Anzac and protected the Ottoman batteries and their supply lines whilst guarding the quickest route to glimpse and control The Narrows. The battle launched on the 21 August 1915 represented the final throw of the offensive dice for Sir Ian Hamilton on the peninsula, it marked the largest single land battle of the campaign, yet is one seldom studied. This virtual battlefield tour will follow the attack of the 29th Division, the crossing of the Salt Lake by the Yeomanry Divisions and their subsequent assault on Scimitar Hill, Green Hill, W Hills and Hill 60.

The full virtual tour is available to WFA members only and is accessible via the 'members area' on the website.  In order to view this in full, you will need to log in to the website using your personal log in details. Once you have done so, simply click onto 'Virtual Tours' and then to the 1914 tour. Alternatively click on the link here 1915-The Battle for Scimitar Hill